“No god and no religion can survive ridicule. No church, no nobility, no royalty or other fraud, can face ridicule in a fair field and live.” –Mark Twain
I’ll be damned. All this time, I thought stopping our out-of control fossil fuel industry before they destroy the planet might be impossible. At the very least, I felt sure we were in for the fight of our lives. But maybe not. Who knew all these enormous corporate juggernauts were so … well, sensitive, so easily wounded? Almost makes me feel sorry for the poor babies. But not quite.

Remember the Gorgons in Greek mythology, whose merest glance turned men to stone? Wonder if we could learn that trick …

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Attorney for Texas oil giant says facial expressions made by pipeline protesters are “assault”
Daily Kos * Mon Nov 10, 2014 at 12:29 PM PST
byJen Hayden
In 2012, Texas oil giant Kinder Morgan announced plans to triple the size of their Canadian pipeline:
block quote
The expansion involves twinning, or building, 610 miles of new pipeline along the existing 715-mile route between Edmonton in Alberta and Burnaby, British Columbia, a suburban community just outside Vancouver.
block quote endhttp://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303949504579262482301318294
Many Canadian residents are outraged and have tried to block the expansion, some even chained themselves to fencing around a test site to prevent the company from conducting tests in British Columbia.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/greenpeace-activists-block-burnaby-b-c-pipeline-terminal-1.2074797
Kinder Morgan responded by suing protesters and claiming the dirty looks they gave Kinder Morgan employees constitute “assault”:
block quote
Mr. Kaplan had argued the defendants conspired against Kinder Morgan, employing social media and telephone networks to harm the oil company and pipeline builder Trans Mountain as they seek to nearly triple capacity by expanding a route under Burnaby Mountain.
He entered into evidence photographs of protesters wearing facial expressions he said demonstrate anger and violence.
“One of the things I will argue is that is not only intimidation, but that is actually an assault,” he said on Wednesday.
block quote endhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2014/11/09/anti-pipeline-protesters-post-snarling-selfies-online-after-lawyer-says-facial-expressions-constitute-assault/
Opponents of the pipeline latched onto this ridiculous legal argument and the “assault” faces went viral under the #KMFace hashtag.
#KMface from BeyondBoarding on Vimeo.

Then again, perhaps it won’t be all that easy. Or maybe the RCMP folks are tougher than pipeline workers? Stay tuned.

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Protectors of Burnaby Mountain vs. Kinder Morgan: Dozens Arrested as Inspiring Pipeline Protest Grows
Standing on side of campaigners, local mayor vows to wage ‘war’ against fossil fuel giant and federal government to defend community
Common Dreams * Friday, November 21, 2014
by Nadia Prupis, staff writer
Ongoing protests in British Columbia to stop a tar sands pipeline project by fossil fuel giant Kinder Morgan escalated on Thursday night after 26 protesters were violently arrested. Those arrested also included protesters who refused to comply with an injunction issued earlier in the week ordering them to move from their encampment on the mountain.
In response, Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan promised that he was ready to fight a “war” in the courts with the federal government.
“This is going to be a war, and it’s going to be one that carries on for a number of years,” Corrigan told the Province.http://www.theprovince.com/news/This+going+says+Burnaby+mayor+pipeline+protesters+arrested/10400012/story.html
“The bigger argument that needs to be fought is: How much can the federal government impose its will on local governments and the ability of people to make local decisions? That’s really the quintessential issue that takes this beyond a merely local situation to being one that attracts interest from municipalities right across Canada.”
In June, an independent poll found that more than 60 percent of Burnaby residents oppose Kinder Morgan’s development proposal to invest $5.4 billion into expanding an existing tar sands pipeline and storage terminal—which the city says would lead to seven times as many oil tankers using the nearby Burrard Inlet each year.http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/09/05/by-the-numbers-city-of-burnaby-versus-kinder-morgan/
At a press conference on Friday, Burnaby Mountain protesters said they would “remain steadfast” despite the arrests, and said the key issues in the fight against Kinder Morgan were “Indigenous rights, climate change, and protection of the lands and waters against corporate greed.”
Police released some of those arrested from custody on the condition that they no longer interfere with Kinder Morgan operations in the area, which are being carried out by the company’s subsidiary, Trans Mountain.
Mayor Corrigan assured protesters that his government was prepared to fight the company—and the energy industry at large—in the courts.
“I didn’t look for the fight. But… if it comes to me, I’m not going to back down,” Corrigan said. “This came to our doorstep. We didn’t go looking for this fight … but this will likely turn into a case that will have implications for cities right across Canada for a long time… This is a fight that’s been a long time coming. We’ve been dealing with 21st-century problems using a 19th-century statute.”
An appeals court is currently considering a bid by the city to force Kinder Morgan to stop conducting its geological survey on the mountain, which Burnaby says violates city bylaws. Burnaby’s first attempt to stop the work was overturned in October.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/kinder-morgan-pipeline-burnaby-to-appeal-neb-decision-1.2816020
Updates on the movement can be followed on Twitter under the hashtag #BurnabyMountain.http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/21/protectors-burnaby-mountain-vs-kinder-morgan-dozens-arrested-inspiring-pipeline
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*** Second Update ***

Brrr! There’s some irony in running the risk of hypothermia and frostbite, while fighting global warming, don’t you thihnk? For protests, this is looking like the real deal. Vancouver in November may not be Manitoba, but it’s not bikini weather out there, not by my standards.

Here’s something we don’t see every day — a pipeline company slinking off, with its tail between its legs. For the moment, at least. My cynical side wonders what will happen come spring. Or once the negative publicity dies down, and pipeline protesters let down their guard. Still, so far, so good.

Note that Kinder Morgan provided incorrect GPS coordinates to the court in filing to extend their injunction. But don’t these fine folks claim they can dig holes so precisely, and extract minerals so carefully that we’ll never know they were here?

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Kinder Morgan Leaves Burnaby Mountain in Win for Pipeline Protesters
Waging Nonviolence * Wednesday, December 03, 2014
by Kate Aronoff
On the morning of November 28, after weeks of sustained protest, energy infrastructure company Kinder Morgan packed up the equipment it had planned to use in the construction of a new pipeline on Burnaby Mountain in British Columbia, and left without finishing the job.http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/11/25/canada-pipeline-protest.html
Weeks earlier, the company had legally declared a “no protest zone” — valid through December 1 — to keep protesters away from the mountainside construction sites on the grounds that their presence would present a safety hazard and undue expenses. When that wasn’t enough, they filed an application with the British Columbia Supreme Court to extend the injunction for another two weeks. But the court rejected their application, when it was revealed that Kinder Morgan had provided the wrong GPS coordinates for the injunction zone.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/kinder-morgan-loses-bid-to-extend-injunction-1.2852222
As a result, charges were also lifted from the over 100 people arrested for civil contempt, due to a lack of clarity around where they could and could not be on the mountain.
Most importantly, the ruling means that Kinder Morgan can no longer continue construction on the site, as it has no legal grounds to do so. According to Reuters, the project would have more than tripled the volume of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline, which transports an estimated 300,000 barrels of tar sands oil daily through Alberta and British Columbia.http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/28/us-kinder-morgn-eng-pipeline-transmounta-idUSKCN0JC03Q20141128
Kinder Morgan Canada President Ian Anderson described the last few weeks as a “challenging time.” The Texas-based company not only faced pressure at the mine site, but a public relations battle: a poll found that 70 percent of residents opposed the Trans Mountain expansion. While the “jobs vs. environment” argument continues to hold sway up north, oil companies may have to find new talking points: The country’s clean energy sector employed more Canadians than the fossil fuel industry last year, with employment figures jumping 37 percent over the last five years.http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/12/02/green-energy-jobs-canada-oilsands_n_6252910.html
Protests were attended by local residents, students, environmental groups and indigenous advocates, who took on a lead role in the anti-pipeline organizing. The land on which Kinder Morgan intended to build the expansion is the unceded traditional territory of the Tseil-Waututh, Musqueam, Sto:lo and Squamish Nations.http://themainlander.com/2014/11/22/photo-essay-burnaby-mountain-land-defenders/
Tseil-Waututh representatives have filed a legal challenge with Canada’s Federal Court of Appeals. Building the pipeline would also run directly counter to a recent U.N. report stating that companies need explicit consent from Canada’s First Nations before beginning construction, even as First Nations’ land rights are enshrined in the country’s constitution.http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/5/12/un-canada-indigenous.html
Sut-Lut, a Squamish Nation elder who kept a fire burning throughout the protests, told a local paper, “This isn’t a First Nations issue, it’s not a Burnaby resident problem only, it’s a people problem, and it’s about our survival. We have one Earth, and unless this government is hiding another healthy Earth somewhere, we need to take care of the one we’ve got, and it’s now, it’s now we have to step up.”http://www.burnabynow.com/news/sacred-fire-still-burning-on-burnaby-mountain-1.1626491
Activists took part in a festival commemorating the court’s decision on Burnaby Mountain this past weekend, including workshops, dance performances, parties and speak-outs. Celebrating the victory, veteran organizer Valerie Langer explained to the Vancouver Observer that “This is just one battle, and there are still a lot of battles to come.”http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/kinder-morgan-retreats-burnaby-mountain-stops-drilling
Oil companies TransCanada and Enbridge are each seeking to build or expand oil pipelines through other parts of Canada.
Thursday’s ruling represents a turning point for anti-extraction fights across North America. Combined with recent victories against the Keystone XL and Energy East pipelines, fossil fuel companies can expect more “challenging times” in the months and years to come.http://wagingnonviolence.org/2014/12/kinder-morgan-leaves-burnaby-mountain-win-pipeline-protesters/

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About l. l. frederick

I'm pretty ordinary, so I find any number of things in the world interesting, among them: books, music, flowers, food, social justice, politics and (sometimes!) people. As for my writing, I've decided that I can be subtle and tasteful when our only problems are esthetic ones. Or when I'm dead, whichever comes first. In the meantime, read at your own risk.

Agreed, and let’s hope they make full use of the opportunity. My personal fantasy is to see a whole phalanx of black-clad protesters, all wearing Dick Cheney masks. Intimidation and ‘assault’ to be sure! But … that might violate the Geneva Conventions, and not further the cause. The fracking fiends might even conclude they were SUPPORTING! their evil efforts! Thanks for commenting. – Linda